


Shifted Sands

by tanks4thememory



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 19:47:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9087622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanks4thememory/pseuds/tanks4thememory
Summary: What if Leia had been sent to Tatooine instead of Luke? How would their lives change? How would the galaxy? The Force only knows.Mostly focusing on Leia, especially at first, but some Luke bits too. Largely bits and scenes, but may get more interconnected as it goes on.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Posted today in honor of the real Princess Leia.  
> RIP Carrie Fisher  
> You will be sorely missed.  
> May the Force be with you, always.

The first time Leia Skywalker asked her aunt and uncle about her parents, she learned two things. The first was that Uncle Owen didn’t really like questions. The second was to ask Aunt Beru if she wanted to know anything that didn’t have to do with the immediate business of life in Anchorhead. And even then, it was better to wait until Uncle Own wasn’t around to ask them. Otherwise he spent the rest of the day and most the next scowling in a way that was somewhere between angry and sad, and depending on what she asked, maybe even a little afraid.

Over time, though, she learned the story. Her father, Anakin, had been a pilot, a navigator on a space freighter. He was grandma Shmi’s son from before she married her grandpa Cleig, which explained why she didn’t really look anything like her aunt or uncle. Her mother had been a woman named Padmé, though her aunt and uncle had never learned her last name, or much of anything about her. Unlike her father, though, they could tell she wasn’t from Tatooine. There was an elegance about her that nothing on Tatooine had, something that spoke of a life lived in much gentler surroundings than Tatooine’s harsh climate.

Padmé, she was told, had died giving birth to her. Her father had died shortly before, thanks to one of the many dangers of the space lanes; her aunt and uncle hadn’t been given the details. Just that Leia had been brought to live with them, because they were her only surviving relatives. They’d given Leia her grandmother’s last name rather than their own, as a small gesture towards honoring the only member of her birth family they’d really known well; they couldn’t do much, but they could raise Leia and keep her safe. 

And so they did. Leia grew, and if she was never likely to be very tall, she was always healthy and strong. Her aunt and uncle were good people, and if her life was simple and sometimes harsh, it was honest, and they always had enough. Leia was always grateful for that. She knew she was lucky, compared to a lot of other people in the galaxy. They took good care of her, and in turn she did her best to help them.

She couldn’t help but wonder though, sometimes, what her life would have been like if fate hadn’t intervened so cruelly. What it would have been like to grow up with her birth parents. What it would be like to be not just cared for, but loved.

One particular incident of wondering that would stick out to her later was in the late evening of what constituted ‘winter’ on Tatooine. She’d heard that on some worlds that meant a significant temperature drop and even _snow_. But for there to be snow there had to be moisture in the atmosphere; all winter on Tatooine meant were that the days were slightly less blisteringly hot, and there was a higher probability of sandstorms. 

That evening she sat there staring at the battered datapad that displayed the schoolwork she was supposed to be doing. She’d stopped actually reading the words about twenty minutes ago. It was a history lesson about some battle late in the Clone Wars, fought in the skies and space over Coruscant. Normally, she would have found such things more interesting, but just then, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

Coruscant, more commonly called Imperial Center in those days, was so far removed from Tatooine that it might as well be a myth. Sure people talked about the Empire, but what did it mean, really? In all her life she’d seen maybe a dozen bored Stormtroopers pass through Anchorhead and once a year a humorless official would come around to their little farming community to collect taxes. Some great Empire; the Emperor could be a polka-dotted bantha for all the difference it made to anyone on Tatooine, especially her. The only real power on Tatooine was the Hutts, and everyone knew it.

Leia’s mind drifted, imaging herself with her father. For some reason she couldn’t picture him as being anything but tall, but otherwise the details shifted with every imagining. His hair was as yellow as the sand, or it was black as night, or any color in between. It was long or short, wavy or straight like hers. His skin was sometimes fair, sometimes dark, but most often tanned like hers. And he wore a hundred different variations on the rugged garb of the pilots and spacers that sometimes passed through Anchorhead heading between Mos Eisley and Mos Espa or one of the planet’s few other settlements significant enough to have spaceports. 

But always he was strong and warm, his eyes- whatever color they were- were bright with laughter. And her mother was there with them. For some reason she was surer of her appearance, though some details changed there too. Leia wondered if she’d caught some glimpse of her before she’d died that had stuck somehow with her through the years. Smaller and slighter than her father, she was beautiful and kind. But there was a sadness to her too, that couldn’t be quite banished even when Leia imagined her smiling.

But they were _there_ , and that was what was most important; they were there and they loved her. They would go to Mos Espa and her father would lift her up on his shoulders so she could watch the podraces. Her mother would be standing there next to them smiling indulgently at their enthusiasm as they cheered on their favorites. Then later, when her father had to leave on a piloting job, she would stay and keep her mother company. They’d make blue milk custard and talk about how much they missed him, planning some special little surprise for him when he returned.

Or maybe they’d travel with him. That was the scenario she liked best and the one she imagined that evening. They’d travel all over the galaxy bringing cargo to a thousand ports on as many planets. Not an especially glamorous life, but a life of freedom together as a family. She could picture herself sitting next to her father or even in his lap as he piloted, telling her exaggerated stories of his adventures before he’d met her mother while teaching her everything she’d need to know to be a top notch pilot herself someday. And her mother would bring them lunch in the ship’s cockpit, laughing and telling them that food was more important than piloting lessons over her father’s playful protests.

But no matter how wonderful her imaginings, it always struck her that they felt incomplete. As if there was still some vital piece missing from the picture. That night the missing piece seemed especially conspicuous, and it bothered her, in a vague but persistent way. What was she missing? She thought hard about it, stretching her mind and memory until she thought she could almost see what it was. It was right there, just beyond the reach of her mind, if only she could…

“Leia!” Aunt Beru called from the homestead’s main living area. “Have you finished your schoolwork yet?”

Startled from her reverie, Leia called back. “Uh… almost, Aunt Beru.” Not exactly a lie; she had a chapter or so to read yet, but that wouldn’t take her too long…

“Well, try and hurry,” her aunt called back. “We’ll be shutting the power down in a few minutes and you’ll need to get to bed. You and your uncle have an early day tomorrow.”

Leia groaned internally. “I know, “ she said aloud, managing to not sound sarcastic “but thanks for reminding me”. She’d almost forgotten; her uncle thought it was high time she started learning the real ins and outs of moisture farming and so was taking her out to the south ridge tomorrow to help install a new condenser, and that kind of work required being up with the suns. She glanced at the chrono on her bedside table and sighed, saving her place as she turned off the pad. She’d just have to read this tomorrow afternoon before lessons started. Not like there was much else to do while she waited.

The sole bright spot of the day tomorrow were her plans to meet up with Biggs after school. He was a few years older than her and said he’d get his parents to let him borrow their older speeder so they and a few others could go out to Toche Station, maybe play a few games or see if there was anything interesting there to trade. Not exactly the kind of grand adventure they dreamed of having someday, but everyone had to start somewhere, she supposed. 

She turned out the light and crawled into bed, slipping under the sheets with a sigh. She needed to get some sleep. She waited to see if her aunt or uncle would come say good night to her, but neither did, probably busy settling in for their own early days tomorrow. Eventually she drifted off, lulled by the moaning of the desert wind. It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.


End file.
